These two birds are called, "Painted Buntings". The female is on the left, the male on the right. Aren't they gorgeous? They don't look quite real, almost as if they were entirely made up by Disney. But, I assure you, they are absolutely real and I Got To See Them! Honestly, the only reason I got to see these birds lie and in person is that I am lucky enough to have the best sister in the entire world. Not joking. Joy lives up in Sarasota, about a half hour away from me and several times a week, in addition to hiking with me on Wednesdays, she goes to one of her favourite hiking spots up in her neck of the woods. It's a place called, Celery Fields. I have mentioned it to you guys briefly before as I have had the good fortune to visit it occasionally as well. As the name suggests, Celery Fields used to be fields of celery back when Sarasota was largely agricultural. Visitors to Sarasota now would never imagine that they bustling, thriving vibrant city was very "farmy" way back in the olden days. Thank goodness someone had the foresight to preserve some of the area!! This week Joy told me that she had seen this specific pair of birds and she was so excited to share the experience with me that she offered to drive the half hour down to pick me up, the half hour back to Celery fields, another half hour to get me back home and yet another 30 minutes to get home herself! That's two extra hours to her day, just so that I could see and photograph these two birds! Like I said, Best Sister Ever. And they did not disappoint. Apparently Painted Bunting birds are very punctual and have a busy schedule because they seemed to arrive at Celery Fields at exactly 8:05 every day, stay for just a few moments and then leave. Doesn't that sound crazy? We arrived just minutes ahead of them, zoomed over to the gazebo where they hang out (near the feeders - they aren't stupid after all) and grabbed a seat. So glad we got there a little early because seconds behind us were a long line of folks also wanting to view these birdies. Exactly on schedule (do they have teeny tiny watches with alarms on them?) they fluttered into view, snacked a little bit and then hopped back into a nearby bush. It was WOW! And totally, entirely, completely amazing. I had no idea this sort of bird even existed to be honest. The male in particular, looks like something one of my kids might have produced in a colouring book when they were little. (My boys were never the sort to do the expected thing). That vibrant wild colouring was just spectacular and honestly doesn't seem quite real. And yet, there they were! After we got our few quick photos we left so that others could enjoy. We aren't selfish after all. But what a wonderful start to our hike. And it definitely kicked off the theme. This photos safari shall forever after be known as, The Birdie Hike. Because that's exactly what it was. Hope you like birds because that is mostly what we saw. And therefore, most of what you will be seeing here today. Part of Celery Fields borders the Big Cat Habitat so it was more than a little disconcerting to be walking along taking picture of adorable little birdies while listening to lions roaring. Gave me the shivers! This first batch of photos is birds on a wire. There are posts with heavy telephone or electrical or internet or some combination of the three running down one side of the road and of course birds love to perch there. Throughout this post I will identify the ones that I remember the names of. (which isn't that many honestly) but here goes: There were also birds in trees and bushes everywhere around us. Occasionally one of them paused long enough for me to get a picture. Joy is a whiz at tracking birds in flight and getting action shots. Me, not so much. Oh well, here are stationary birds: Feeling that we had exhausted the bird supply on that side of of Celery Fields, we crossed the street to the other side. This other side has a trail that goes alllllllll the way around the perimeter (about 3 miles) and several boardwalks that go out to covered areas on ponds where different kinds of birds can be viewed. And so we did. The first boardwalk being fairly near the parking lot always has the largest numbers of spectators but we were lucky to hit it just as a good sized group was leaving. There was quite a nice variety of birds to be seen there: We then moved on to the perimeter trail. Not too many people bother to walk the entirety so it was fairly quiet and we do love a peaceful walk. One of my favourite parts of this walk was the duck family: There was a second board walk and covered area where we found a pair of eagles amoung other things. Eagles! Wow! Birds weren't the only things we saw of course but it was biggest theme. So I will put everything else together here in the Rando Files which means this will be a little bit bigger set than usual, sorry: So there you have it. The Birdie Hike which was one of the best hikes we have ever done. I was so excited to see those birds that were completely new to me. What a wonderful way to start our hiking day. I have no idea how on earth we will ever top this one. But we will keep trying.
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AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
February 2025
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